The gala is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Wally Allen Ballroom of the Statehouse Convention Center and will include a cocktail reception, dinner, dancing and musical entertainment. Organized by the Cancer Institute Foundation’s board of directors, the black-tie event will raise funds benefiting cancer research and patient care.

The Rogers will be named the third annual Pat and Willard Walker Tribute honorees for their longtime support of the Cancer Institute and other programs at UAMS.

Tables of 10 start at $5,000; individual tickets are $500 per person. For information about the event or to make a reservation, contact Jeanette Shack at the Cancer Institute Foundation at (501) 526-2277.

Doyle Rogers is founder and chairman of the Doyle Rogers Company, a private real estate development, investments, banking and brokerage firm. In 1982, Rogers oversaw the development of Little Rock’s Excelsior Hotel, now the Peabody Little Rock, and the adjoining Statehouse Convention Center. In 1985, he developed the 25-story Rogers Building, now the Stephens Building, also in downtown Little Rock. In addition, he is chairman of the board of Metropolitan National Bank and in 2006 was inducted into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame.
Raye Rogers was a founding member of the Cancer Institute Foundation board and is a lifetime member of the board.

The lobby in the new UAMS hospital is named in honor of a $4 million gift from the Rogers family, including their daughter and son-in-law, Barbara and Paul Hoover; and their son and daughter-in-law, Doyle “Rog” and Carolyn Rogers, all of Little Rock.

The Cancer Institute is in the process of constructing a 300,000-square-foot expansion adjacent to its Pat and Willard Walker Tower. The new tower is scheduled to open its first phase in summer 2010 and upon completion will ultimately double the Institute’s capacity for cancer research and treatment.

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a new 540,000-square-foot hospital, six centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has 2,652 students and 733 medical
residents. Its centers of excellence include the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com.